Hello I have a question for you is their anywhere we can get discounted rates or anything on servers for Rfactor 2 as build testers. We currently host one a members machine but sometimes we get lag issues, due to connection and are currently looking into hiring a server. Many Thanks Dene Aka Gunny
Dedicated servers are expensive by default, the really cheap ones often perform badly. And cheaper servers come with limited access for admins as well. Gamesclan is advertising with 4 to 64 players, which implies small server rental. worth looking into, watch the fine print though! http://www.gamesclan.com/ http://www.portal.hostilecontact.com/cart.php?a=confproduct&i=0 seems to have 15$ per month for 10 slots. found that hard to believe but who knows. NRT is going for $32 per month http://nrtservers.com I would just drop those guys a note and see what they have to offer for you. not many will advertise small-servers so it prolly needs some digging. Typically its about $55 to $375 per month for a full server. $600 per year was the cheapest I could find on a professional level. Our league is lucky enough to share costs with other leagues, that helps immensely. I suggest you do the same (lol if only it was that easy) Be careful with overly optimistic advertising. it usually aint that great.
Unless we get a Linux server executable then you also have to factor in the cost of a Windows Server OS license... that's part of the reason a server costs so much. I have a dedicated server that's costing me $39/mo (and runs one rF2 and 2-4 rF1 instances) but I had a Windows license already. Services like NRT are probably the best choice for small leagues needing a server for a short-medium period of time.
I don't have any experience on that but I'm also thinking on the same thing: Get a server in the summer/autumn (and start a league) For me VPS (Virtual Private Server) seems a pretty good alternative. I don't know the quality (I don't think it is bad) of these servers but they are very cheap compared to other solutions.
YMMV with a VPS. Not only is it virtual but it's shared hardware. I managed fairly well with a minimal spec Amazon EC2 server (kind of a VPS) for rF1 but it started lagging with more than ~12 cars. If you're a small league or group of drivers, try the Amazon EC2 free 12-month trial. I've not tried it with rF2, mind you. I'll warn you, it takes a bit of trial and error to create the EC2 instance but once it's up, it's stable.
It all depends on what you want. If you want a slot server or if you want a full server. In slot server you can control just somethings. My advice, and if you have the Money for it, go for a full server where you can make whatever you want. Obvious it would be a bit more expensive but you control everything. It also depends on your location and what type of people race with you. We have rented a server from http://www.server4you.net/dedicated-server/ (germany located) We have zero problems. We make more than 100 league races a year and we have an average of 1% problems. Net speed is 100Mb download and 100Mb upload with low pings. Majority of drivers are from Europe but we have people from Brasil aswell. Presently we run 7 rfactor 1 servers and 1 rfactor 2 server. Obvious they´re not all packed with drivers at same time but at night sometimes we have around 40/50 in diferent servers with no problem. We also run the Team Speak server there. Our costs are more or less 58€ (around $79 USD/month Windows web server included) If you need just a simple rfactor server go for a slot rental for a couple of bucks. If you need a bigger thing go for a full server.
Means that if you rent a slot server you could experience some lag (or not). Many server rental companies (slot servers) use the same machine for diferent costumers. They dont reserve a full machine for 1 simple slot server. Best advice, rent a slot server for only 1 month. Try it. If you like it then ok, if not go for a dedicated one.
I went for a dedicated server recently and run rF2, GSCE, AC, GPBikes, KRP & WRS servers from it, multiple of each. Represented by far the best value for money for my community as a whole.
Where did you get your server from Rich and if you don't mind how much as we are looking for Phoenix Racing Club.
On the advice of one of my members we went to http://www.vilayer.com/ for our dedi. With members being from eastern Europe too, we decided to go for a dedi hosted in the Netherlands to give everyone a more central server to connect to. We're paying right around £70 at the moment per month for an i5 server with 8GB RAM & 1TB hard drive with 100/100 connection. We have had drivers connect from Canada, USA, Poland, UK and other assorted European countries in a league race of 15 and it was rock solid. At the launch of the Indy content, we hit a peak of 24 in the server and that had users from all over the world. Not a single hint of any kind of lag. I would fully recommend this server provider.
